Break-in-the-Narrative (Appsiopesis)

Aposiopesis is a device which dictionaries define as "A stop­ping short for rhetorical effect." This is true. But this definition is too general to' disclose the stylistic functions of the device.

In the spoken variety of the language, a break in the narrative is usually caused by unwillingness to proceed; or by the supposition that what remains to be said can be understood by the implication embodied in what has been said; or by uncertajnty as to what should be said.

In the written variety, a break in the narrative is always a stylistic device used for some stylistic effect. It is difficult, however, to draw a hard and fast distinction between break-in-the-narrative as a typical feature of lively colloquial language and as a specific stylistic device. The only criterion which may serve as a guide is that in conversation the implica­tion can be conveyed by an adequate gesture. In writing it is the context, which suggests the adequate intonation, that is the only key to de­coding the aposiopesis.

In the following example the implication of the aposiopesis is a warn­ing

"If you continue your intemperate way of living, in six months' time ..."

In the sentence:

"You just come home or I'll ..."

the implication is a threat. The second example shows that without a context the implication can only be vague. But when one knows that the words were said by an angry father to his son over the telephone the im­plication becomes apparent.

Aposiopesis is a stylistic syntactical device to convey to the reader a very strong upsurge of emotions. The idea of this stylistic device is that the speaker cannot proceed, his feelings depriving him of the ability to express himself in terms of language. Thus in Don Juan's address to Julia, who is left behind:

"And oh! if e'er I should forget, / swear— ;i But that's impossible, and cannot be." (Byron)

Break-in-the-narrative has a strong degree of predictability, which is ensured by the structure of the sentence. As a stylistic device it is used in complex sentences, in particular in conditional sentences, the //-clause being given in full and the second part only implied.

However, aposiopesis may be noted in different syntactical structures.

Thus, one of Shelley's poems is entitled "To—", which is an aposio­pesis of a different character, inasmuch as the implication here is so vague that it can be likened to a secret code. Indeed, no one except those in the know would be able to find out to whom the poem was addressed.

Sometimes a break in the narrative is caused by euphemistic consid­erations—unwillingness to name a thing on the ground of its being offen­sive to the ear, for example:

"Then, Mamma, i hardly like to let the words cross my lips, but they have wicked, wicked attractions out there—like dancing girls that—that charm snakes and dance without—Miss Moir with downcast eyes, broke off significantly and blushed, whilst the down on her upper lip quivered modestly." (Cronin)

Break-in-the-narrative is a device which, on the one hand, offers a number of variants in^deciphering the implication and, on the other, is highly predictable. Thevproblem of implication is, as it were, a crucial one in stylistics. What is implied sometimes outweighs what is expressed. In other stylistic devices the degree of implication is not so high as in break-in-the-narrative. A sudden 'break in the narrative will inevitably focus the attention on what is left unsaid. Therefore the interrelation between what is given and what is new becomes more significant, inasmuch as the given is what is said and the new—what is left unsaid. There is a phrase in colloquial English which has become very familiar: "Good intentions but—"

The implication here is that nothing has come of what it was planned to accomplis

Aposiopesis is a stylistic device in which the role of the intonation implied cannot be over-estimated. The pause after the break is generally charged with meaning and it is the intonation only that will decode the communicative significance of the utterance.